It is in our lives and not our words that our religion must be read.
Interpretation
Our actions are more significant than our words when it comes to living our beliefs.
This quote by Thomas Jefferson emphasizes the importance of living by one's values and principles rather than merely speaking about them. It suggests that true religious and moral conviction is demonstrated through our actions and how we treat others in our daily lives, rather than through the rhetoric we use.
In practice
Use this quote in a speech about ethical leadership.
The firmness with which the (American) people have withstood the... abuses of the press, the discernment they have manifested between truth and falsehood, show that they may safely be trusted to hear everything true and false and to form a correct judgment between them.
I, place economy among the first & most important republican virtues, & public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared
We must make our choice between economy and liberty or confusion and servitude...If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and comforts, in our labor and in our amusements...if we can prevent the government from wasting the labor of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy.
Very many and very meritorious were the worthy patriots who assisted in bringing back our government to its republican tack. To preserve it in that, will require unremitting vigilance.
A nation, as a society, forms a moral person, and every member of it is personally responsible for his society.
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.
The Cheshire Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good-natured, she thought: still it had very long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt it ought to be treated with respect.
Perhaps my whisper was already born before my lips.
Everything beautiful has a mark of eternity.
Civilization has been a continuous struggle of the individual or of groups of individuals against the State and even against "society," that is, against the majority subdued and hypnotized by the State and State worship.
The worst thing about movie-making is that it's like life: nobody can go back to correct the mistakes.
I felt that no boy should have to depend either for his leg or his life upon the ability of his parents to raise enough money to bring a first-class surgeon to his bedside.
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